Driving mechanism for a diffusion tower

ABSTRACT

The present driving mechanism is especially suitable for a diffusion tower for leaching sugar beet cossettes. Inside the upright tower there is rotatably supported a drive shaft for transporting the sugar beet cossettes through the diffusion tower. One drive shaft end extends out of the tower. A spur gear is attached to said drive shaft end. A plurality of pinion carriages are movably supported on the tower body itself so that the drive pinions carried by the pinion carriages are maintained in continuous, efficient meshing with the spur gear. Guide means on the spur gear and on the pinion carriage interengage each other to facilitate said continuous meshing regardless of any flexing of the drive shaft.

Unite States atet 1 1 1111 3,807,250 Dietzel et al. Apr. 30, 1974 [54] DRIVING MECHANISM FOR A DIFFUSION 2,950,998 8/1960 Stewart et al 127/7 TOWER 3,461,735 8/1969 3,461,734 8/1969 1 Inventors: Walter Dielzel; Siegfried Matusch, 3,572,150 3/1971 Durand 74/410 Braunschweig, Germany [73] Assignee: Braunschweigische Maschinenbauanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany [22] Filed: Aug. 7, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 278,573

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data 2,876,143 3/1959 Ruth 127/7 2,828,230 3/1958 Heinrich 127/7 2,927,007 3/1960 Kaether 23/270 Primary ExaminerLeonard H. Gerin Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Wolfgang G. Fasse A1391 RACT The present driving mechanism is especially suitable for a diffusion tower for leaching sugar beet cossettes. Inside the upright tower there is rotatably supported a drive shaft for transporting the sugar beet cossettes through the diffusion tower. One drive shaft end extends out of the tower. A spur gear is attached to said drive shaft end. A plurality of pinion carriages are movably supported on the tower body itself so that the drive pinions carried by the pinion carriages are maintained in continuous, efficient meshing with the spur gear. Guide means on the spur gear and on the pinion carriage interengage each other to facilitate said continuous meshing regardless of any flexing of the drive shaft.

14 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures DRIVING MECHANISM FOR A DIFFUSION TOWER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a driving mechanism, more specifically for a diffusion tower for the leaching of sugar beet cossettes or the like. The diffusion tower comprises a substantially upright cylindrical container or chamber having a longitudinal axis. A transport shaft for the cossettes extends coaxially to said longitudinal axis through the cylindrical container. The transport shaft is rotatably supported in the container and is provided with transport elements which cooperate with guide blades attached to the inner surface of said container. The transport shaft extends with one end thereof out of said container. Said one end of the transport shaft is provided with a spur gear which meshes with at least one motor driven pinion.

The required torque moments for driving said transport shaft in diffusion towers for the leaching of sugar beet cossettesare extraordinarily large. These large torque moments must be transmitted to the outer end of the transport shaft by means of said pinions. Heretofore, the drive means for rotating said pinions or the pinions themselves were supported in known diffusion towers on the tower housing that is the above mentioned cylindrical container. The support was such that the drive reactions may be taken up.

A difficulty has been encountered heretofore due to the fact that it is not possible to assure within reasonable economical means that the transport shaft is guided insuch an exact manner that the spur gear at the end of the transport shaft rotates in a proper circular path. In other words, heretofore, the spur gear did not rotate along a precise circle. Further, the manufacturing tolerances of the spur gear itself resulted in a radially and axially extending flexing of the outer circumference of the spur gear, especially due to the large dimensions of these spur gears which may have a diameter of several meters.

In known diffusion towers it is necessary to take care that the driving pinion is movably supported within certain limits in order that it may adjust itself automatically into a position in which the best gear meshing relative to the teeth of the spur gear is accomplished even if the spur gear performs radially and axially extending wobbling motions. However, the range of possible compensation which may be achieved with known means is relatively small. Therefore, it may happen that the pinion and the spur gear are not intermeshing in accordance with conditions which would assure the best and optimal conditions for the gear teeth intermeshing. Therefore, it must be taken into account that the gear teeth flanks are overloaded at non-optimal working conditions and under the high driving forces which must be transmitted in diffusion towers.

OBlIECTS OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, it is the aim of the invention to achieve the -following objects singly or in combination:

to remove the drawbacks of the prior art, more specifically, to construct the driving mechanism for a diffusion tower in such a manner that the optimal gear teeth intermeshing between the spur gear and the driving pinion is maintained at all times independently of the manufacturing tolerances and independently of the wobbling motions of the spur gear;

to assure an optimum intermeshing with simple and economical means;

to provide drive means for a diffusion tower including several individual units which are arranged in such a manner that repair of anyone of the drive units may be accomplished without interrupting the operation of the diffusion tower;

to support the individual driving units in such a manner that the danger of oscillatory movements is reduced or eliminated; and

to connect each driving unit individually to the body of the diffusion tower by means of an elastically expandable guide arm or the like whereby irregularities in the load distribution as well as peak loads and the like can be taken up by the elastic deformation of the connecting guide arm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided a driving mechanism for a diffusion tower of the above described type wherein at least one pinion carriage is used for assuring the meshing between the drive pinions and the above mentioned spur gear. The pinion carriage is guided for example by means of guide rollers riding directly along a guide track of the spur gear. The pinion carriage is further connected to the body of the diffusion tower container by means ofa guide arm and each pinion carriage carries a reduction gear and a drive motor for the pinions whereby the drive motor may be attached to the pinion carriage proper or to the reduction gear.

Drive means which employ a pinion carriage are known in connection with the tilting mechanism of a steel converter whereby the carriage is directly supported on the large spur gear to be driven through the pinion carriage. Such support includes suitable roller means which ride along the spur gear and thus guide the pinion carriage relative to the spur gear. Similar drive means have been employed in connection with large mixers such as concrete mixers.

Advantages of the present invention employing pinion carriages in a diffusion tower are seen in that it is completely irrelevent how large the manufacturing tolerances of the spur gear are or how large the amplitude of the wobbling motion of the transporting shaft is. Further, the present driving mechanism assures that even elastical deformations of the cylindrical diffusion tower container under load conditions and in response to the driving reactions do not affect the proper intermeshing of the drive pinions with the spur gear. The present pinion carriage retains its optimum position relative to the teeth of the spur gear independently of all of theses operational occurrences whereby the optimum intermeshing or cooperation between the pinion and the teeth of the spur gear is assured.

An especially advantageous feature of the diffusion tower according to the invention is seen that the pinion carriage with the gear means and the driving motor attached thereto may be constructed as integral driving units which as such may be easily exchanged. Any desirable number of such driving units may be distributed about the circumference of the spur gear. Therefore, individual driving units may be demounted or exchanged even during the operation of the diffusion tower without any need for interruption of the operation. I-Ieretofore, it was not possible in connection with known diffusion towers to exchange the driving mechanism without interrupting the operation, this is a surprising result which additionally has the advantage that it also avoids the undesirable impairment of the entire operation of a sugar factory when the diffusion towers had to be stopped heretofore. Another advantage of the invention is seen in that a larger number of driving units may be employed, whereby the individual driving unit may be constructed relatively small and light because each individual driving unit has to transmit only a respectively smaller proportion of the entire driving force. Thus, the load applied to the teeth flanks of the intermeshing pinion and spur gear is not only substantially reduced, but the entire load is also more evenly distributed about the entire circumference of the spur gear. In addition, the smaller and lighter unit becomes more manageable so that it may be lifted or lowered by means of the repair or maintenance crane which is normally provided at the top of diffusion towers. In known diffusion towers it was necessary to employ a special heavy load crane in order to lift the driving unit onto the tower or in order to lower it from the diffusion tower.

BRIEF FIGURE DESCRIPTION In order that the invention may be clearly understood; it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a top plan view onto the upper end of a diffusion tower comprising a driving mechanism according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the section lines IIII in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EXAMPLE EMBODIMENT FIG. 1 illustrates the upper end of a diffusion tower l which is substantially closed by an upper end wall 1. This closure wall 1' shown in the plan view in FIG. 1, serves as a guide means and bearing for a transport shaft 2. The transport shaft extends longitudinally through the upright tower container 1 and coaxially with the longitudinal cylinder axis of the container 1. The transport shaft 2 is provided along its length inside the diffusion tower with transport elements having the shape of blades which rotate with the shaft 2 for transporting the sugar beet cossettes through the diffusion tower. The blades cooperate with respective counter elements attached to the inner wall of the diffusion tower, whereby the mashed sugar beet cossettes which are fed into the lower end of the tower are transported upwardly through the tower.

As shown in FIG. 1, the transport shaft 2 extends out of the tower at the upper end thereof and the upper end of the shaft 2 has attached thereto in a force transmitting manner a spur gear 3. The toothed outer rim of the spur gear 3 may be connected to the shaft 2 by means of a circular plate or spokes 3'.

A plurality of drive pinions 4 are arranged for intermeshing cooperation with the spur gear 3. In the shown example four pinions 4 are supported in respective pinion carriages 5 which are preferably evenly distributed about the circumference of the spur gear 3. Thus, the carriages have an even angular spacing of 90 from each other.

Each pinion carriage 5 is provided with respective guide follower means 6 which run along a guide track 6 of the spur gear 3. Further cooperating guide means such as a cam wheel 10 riding on the spur gear plate 3' and a cam wheel bearing 11 for the cam wheel 10 and supported on the pinion carriage 5 may be arranged for cooperation with each other.

The pinion carriage 5 supports a reduction gear box 7 which in turn carries a motor connecting means 5 for driving the respective pinion 4 through a shaft 7' which is supported by roller bearings 12 in the pinion carriage 5, as shown in FIG. 2. It will be appreciated that the motor connection means 5' may be also supported directly on the pinion carriage 5 rather than on the reduction gear box 7.

The pinion carriages 5 are movably connected to the body of the tower 1 for taking up the driving reactions. In the shown example embodiment guide rocker arms 8 are pivoted or journaled to the top wall 1' of the tower container 1. One end of each rocker arm 8 is journaled to a respective journal shaft 8 while the opposite end of the. rocker arm is secured to the pinion carriage, for example, by nuts and bolts. The pivot or journal means 8 permit a movement of the respective pinion carriage 5 in a direction extending substantially radially relative to the longitudinal axis of the shaft 2 and also in a direction extending substantially in parallel thereto whereby the pinion carriage may perform yielding movements while simultaneously maintaining its optimal intermeshing contact with the spur gear 3.

The rocker arms 8 are preferably constructed as elastically expandable members or in the form of shock absorbers which as such are well known in the art. Preferably, the rocker means are pivotable about two axes crossing each other at right angles. This type of connection between the rocker arm 8 and the tower container 1 has the advantage that irregularities in the load distribution, peak loads, and the like may be easily compensated by the elastic deformation of the rocker arm and its pivotal movement. Constructing the rocker arms 8 as shock absorbers has the advantage that they can counter-act any danger of oscillatory movements because in this manner the rocker arms 8 act as dampening means for such oscillatory movements.

The diffusion tower driven as described above has the advantage that a very smooth drive is accomplished because the intermeshing teeth of the pinion 4 and the spur gear 3 remain in cooperating optimum contact independently of the outer influences or manufacturing tolerances of the spur gear as well as the movements of the transport shafts 2. Further, the driving force transmitted per each teeth is small due to the use of a larger number of individual driving units. Thus, the wear and tear is substantially reduced. The summarized result of What is claimed is:

1. In a driving mechanism for a diffusion tower for leaching sugar beet cossettes having an upright substantially cylindrical container with a longitudinal axis and a transport shaft extending coaxially to said longitudinal axis through the container in which said shaft is rotatably supported and wherein the drive shaft is provided with transport elements which cooperate with guide blades attached to the inner wall of said container for transporting said sugar beet cossettes through the container, said shaft having an end extending out of said container and a spur gear attached to said shaft end, wherein said spur gear meshes with motor driven pinion gear means, the improvement comprising pinion carriage means for said pinion gear means, double guide means both located radially inwardly of said spur gear, double guide follower means carried by said pinion carriage means for engagement with said double guide means radially inwardly of the spur gear, said double guide means and said double guide follower means cooperating with each other respectively in two different. planes extending substantially at right angles to each other whereby two cooperating guide pairs are formed, supporting means for movably connecting said pinion carriage means to said container, motor means,

' reduction gear means supported by said pinion carriage means for operatively connecting said motor means to said pinion gear means whereby said pinion carriage means with the pinion gear means, said motor means, said reduction gear means, and said carriage guide follower means form an integral, movably supported unit.

2. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said motor means are supported on said pinion carriage means.

3. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said motor means are supported on said reduction gear means.

4. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said support means comprises an elastically extendible member and pivot means to which said member is connected at one end thereof while its other end is connected to said pinion carriage means, said pivot means permitting the tilting of said member about two axes extending perpendicularly to each'other.

5. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said support means comprise an elastically extendible member and a journal shaft to which said member is journaled at one end thereof while its other end is connected to said pinion carriage means, said journal shaft permitting the tilting of said member about said journal shaft and the axial shifting of said member along said journal shaft, whereby the pinion carriage means are tiltable back and forth in a direction extending substantially radially relative to said longitudinal axis of the container and whereby said pinion carriage means are shiftable back and forth in a direction extending substantially in parallel to said longitudinal axis of the container.

6. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, com- 6 prising a plurality of pinion carriage means distributed about the circumference of said spur gear at substantially equal angular spacings.

7. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said support means comprise shock absorber means including an elastically extendable member.

8. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said guide means of the spur gear comprise a cam track on said spur gear and a cam track follower means on said pinion carriage means.

9. The driving mechanism according to claim 8, wherein said cam track follower means comprise roller means which ride along said cam track.

10. In a driving mechanism for a diffusion tower for leaching sugar beet cossettes having an upright substantially cylindrical container with a longitudinal axis and a transport shaft extending coaxially with said longitudinal axis through said container, the shaft. being rotatably supported and having transport elements which cooperate with guide blades attached to the inner wall of said container for transporting sugar beet cossettes through said container, an end of said shaft extending out of said container, a spur gear on said end of said shaft, and motor driven pinion gear means mounted to mesh with said spur gear; the improvement comprising guide track means on said spur gear, said guide track means having a first annular surface extending coaxial to said shaft and a second fiat surface extending normal to said shaft, pinion carriage means, guide follower means on said pinion carriage means positioned to engage sid guide track means, motor means, means mounting said motor means on said carriage means for driving said pinion gear means, and support means mounted to movably couple said carriage means to said container.

11. The driving mechanism of claim 10, wherein said first track means comprises an inner surface on said spur gear and said second track means comprises a fiat surface within said spur gear track accessible from the same side of said spur gear as said first track means, and said guide follower means comprises first and second roller means for engaging said first and second guide means respectively.

12. The driving mechanism of claim 10, wherein said support means comprises longitudinally extending journal means mounted on said container, and elastically expandable means coupled between said carriage means and said journal means to permit axial and radial movement of said carriage means.

13. The driving mechanism of claim 12, wherein said expandable means are fixedly mounted to said carriage means.

14. The driving mechanism of claim 10, wherein said support means comprises elastically expandable means and means coupling said expandable means between said container and said carriage means, said coupling means comprising longitudinal extending journal means coupled to one end of said expandable means for permitting axial movment of said carriage means. 

1. In a driving mechanism for a diffusion tower for leaching sugar beet cossettes having an upright substantially cylindrical container with a longitudinal axis and a transport shaft extending coaxially to said longitudinal axis through the container in which said shaft is rotatably supported and wherein the drive shaft is provided with transport elements which cooperate with guide blades attached to the inner wall of said container for transporting said sugar beet cossettes through the container, said shaft having an end extending out of said container and a spur gear attached to said shaft end, wherein said spur gear meshes with motor driven pinion gear means, the improvement comprising pinion carriage means for said pinion gear means, double guide means both located radially inwardly of said spur gear, double guide follower means carried by said pinion carriage means for engagement with said double guide means radially inwardly of the spur gear, said double guide means and said double guide follower means cooperating with each other respectively in two different planes extending substantially at right angles to each other whereby two cooperating guide pairs are formed, supporting means for movably connecting said pinion carriage means to said container, motor means, reduction gear means supported By said pinion carriage means for operatively connecting said motor means to said pinion gear means whereby said pinion carriage means with the pinion gear means, said motor means, said reduction gear means, and said carriage guide follower means form an integral, movably supported unit.
 2. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said motor means are supported on said pinion carriage means.
 3. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said motor means are supported on said reduction gear means.
 4. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said support means comprises an elastically extendible member and pivot means to which said member is connected at one end thereof while its other end is connected to said pinion carriage means, said pivot means permitting the tilting of said member about two axes extending perpendicularly to each other.
 5. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said support means comprise an elastically extendible member and a journal shaft to which said member is journaled at one end thereof while its other end is connected to said pinion carriage means, said journal shaft permitting the tilting of said member about said journal shaft and the axial shifting of said member along said journal shaft, whereby the pinion carriage means are tiltable back and forth in a direction extending substantially radially relative to said longitudinal axis of the container and whereby said pinion carriage means are shiftable back and forth in a direction extending substantially in parallel to said longitudinal axis of the container.
 6. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of pinion carriage means distributed about the circumference of said spur gear at substantially equal angular spacings.
 7. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said support means comprise shock absorber means including an elastically extendable member.
 8. The driving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said guide means of the spur gear comprise a cam track on said spur gear and a cam track follower means on said pinion carriage means.
 9. The driving mechanism according to claim 8, wherein said cam track follower means comprise roller means which ride along said cam track.
 10. In a driving mechanism for a diffusion tower for leaching sugar beet cossettes having an upright substantially cylindrical container with a longitudinal axis and a transport shaft extending coaxially with said longitudinal axis through said container, the shaft being rotatably supported and having transport elements which cooperate with guide blades attached to the inner wall of said container for transporting sugar beet cossettes through said container, an end of said shaft extending out of said container, a spur gear on said end of said shaft, and motor driven pinion gear means mounted to mesh with said spur gear; the improvement comprising guide track means on said spur gear, said guide track means having a first annular surface extending coaxial to said shaft and a second flat surface extending normal to said shaft, pinion carriage means, guide follower means on said pinion carriage means positioned to engage sid guide track means, motor means, means mounting said motor means on said carriage means for driving said pinion gear means, and support means mounted to movably couple said carriage means to said container.
 11. The driving mechanism of claim 10, wherein said first track means comprises an inner surface on said spur gear and said second track means comprises a flat surface within said spur gear track accessible from the same side of said spur gear as said first track means, and said guide follower means comprises first and second roller means for engaging said first and second guide means respectively.
 12. The driving mechanism of claim 10, wherein said support means comprises longitudinally extending journal means mounted on said container, and elastically expandable means coupled bEtween said carriage means and said journal means to permit axial and radial movement of said carriage means.
 13. The driving mechanism of claim 12, wherein said expandable means are fixedly mounted to said carriage means.
 14. The driving mechanism of claim 10, wherein said support means comprises elastically expandable means and means coupling said expandable means between said container and said carriage means, said coupling means comprising longitudinal extending journal means coupled to one end of said expandable means for permitting axial movment of said carriage means. 